Tiairra Brown’s awesome portraits were shot on iPhone
I’m fascinated by what photographers can do with the camera they carry in their pockets. The iPhone’s camera capabilities seem to improve year on year and a lot of professional photographers like to experiment with their smartphone when doing shoots. Tiairra Brown is one of those photographers and she creates pro-level portraiture with her iPhone.
Tiairra Brown and her iPhone
This article isn’t about how awesome iPhone cameras have become. Sure, we can celebrate their advancement, but they still can’t compete with the best mirrorless cameras and a DSLR. In the wrong hands, an iPhone is useless.
You need the right creative vision, be an expert in light and to grasp what makes good portraiture. Brown has all of that, which is why she’s been able to get the most out of her device.
Nikon and Fujifilm are her main drivers. Yet, she states her iPhone will always be her favorite camera. When asked why, she told Them Frames, “iPhone was the camera I started with so there will always be a special attachment to it for me. It’s the one I learned angles and composition, oddly enough.”
She continues, “My other cameras are great but if I want to just go out and shoot around, I’ll grab my iPhone every time.”
Because the industry is accustomed to photographers using dedicated cameras, I imagined it would come as quite a shock when a model is told the shoot will done with an iPhone 14 Pro.
Explaining how models respond, Brown says “[with] Absolute fear lol.” She adds, “I'm joking, kind of. There’s always that look like “um okay?” but they’ll go with it because we’ve built that trust already.”
Editing photos on iPhone
Smartphones can do it all. You can make an image, edit it and share it with the world without leaving your device. Popular editing tools like Lightroom and Capture One have a mobile version of their software. There are also many other options available when it comes to smartphone editing tools.
With Brown being a professional photographer I wondered if she felt she could edit her portrait shoots on her device. “ I do [edit on iPhone]! Since Apple released ProRaw, I’ve been able to switch from just slapping on a VSCO preset and actually edit like I would any other file in Lightroom or Photoshop.”
The future of smartphone photography
I often ponder over the idea of smartphones becoming a photographers first choice camera. They have come so far in terms of specs and functionality that the idea doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to me.
Brown disagrees. I asked if she ever saw a time where she would exclusively shoot with her iPhone. She told me, “Not at all. It’s great but no. Though, funnily enough, most of this year was just me shooting with a 35mm point and shoot and my iPhone camera.”
Before finishing my conversation with Brown, I asked her: analog, mirrorless or iPhone - you can only pick one and why?
Her response…
“Analog over everything. There’s nothing like it - the grain, the texture, the colors, the oops moments. Film photography is fun.”